Well I turned right on first, left on white oakBack to my old neighborhoodI saw old Doc RandolphHe was mowing his yardHe's kept it up the best he could.And Evelyn his wife of thirty-two yearsShe smiled as I drove byAnd she waved from her front porch screen.And she went back to reading her two dollar novelAnd playing with her wedding ring.

A few houses needed paintingA few gates were unhingedBut generally the place looked the same.The driveways were full of bikes and Buick sedansThings any good American would claim.And all them other loversThat married for coverThey were out for the sacred nightly stroll.They were wishing they were characters in two dollar novelsWishing for their weight in gold.

Now Mary ElizabethShe's my high school sweetheartShe married my best high school friend.He manages the hardware storeShe became a nurse, And I became a memory to them.And all my other buddiesThey just got lost in outer spaceAnd they ran off and served their country well.They're all fighting in a war of two dollar novelsWhere only the toughest live to tell.

So I turned right on white oak, left on firstOut of that old neighborhoodI left Doctor and Mrs. Randolph sipping ice tea on their sun porchWondering if I'd ever come to any good.And on a thousand shady streetsAnd in a thousand other townsNow people, Lord, they're doing just the same.They're all living their lives in two dollar novelsAnd wondering why the the world is so insane.They're all living their lives in two dollar novelsAnd wondering why there's nothing left to gain.